Samsung claims lead in 5G arms race - set your dials for 2020

Samsung is claiming to already have one of the key cornerstones in place that will fuel so-called 5G data services by the year 2020.

The new wireless platform will pave the way for vastly improved download and upload speeds, allowing the downloading of an entire move, for example, to take place in less than a second.

Samsung Electronics says it has performed successful tests using the 28GHz waveband, and has been able to break through the 1Gbps threshold, reportedly seen as a bit of a milestone that had yet to be achieved. It used 64 antenna elements to overcome the issue, allowing signals to be exchanged in real time.

It now believes it'll be able to achieve download and upload figures in the 10s of gigabits per second, and that it expects to be able to roll out the service to consumers by 2020.

That last part, of course, is largely just wishful thinking at this stage, since a huge amount still has to be done before anyone can even conceive of such a thing happening. And a lot of it is work Samsung itself will have nothing to do with.

But it's all part of a greater power play for control of the next phase of data service technology, and Samsung is vying with several Chinese, European and US industry giants for a piece of what is likely to be a very juicy pie indeed.